MFP is yelling at me.

same here...it's 10:30 pm and i'm already in bed...not hungry at all. am i supposed to go fix something to eat?? everyone is always warning about this starvation mode and that seems to always be the case.

I agree - if you're not hungry, don't eat. That's how you gain weight. Your body knows what is best - listen to it.

My girlfriend who has already lost almost 50 lbs with MFP encourages me to have a glass of orange juice or something like that to make up my calories if I'm under.

It yells at me to. Most days I'm sitting between 1000-1400 calories. It says I will gain weight at this rate..I don't understand! I eat healthy all day. One high calorie meal and a bunch smaller through out the day yettttt it still says in 5 weeks I will have gained more weight. I don't think it knows what it is talking about.

I've been having the same problem. If I'm dreadfully below, then I'll eat something. But if I have only 100-200 calories below, I don't really worry about it.

You'll also note that MFP won't "yell" at you if you go over. Again, social responsibility; no need to create a program to make people depressed if they happened to be extra hungry or indulgent on a particular day. Or week. :P

I can relate...I've been a lot of raw high fiber vegies and more protein (and less junk!) the past few days which really fills me up... so I am feeling satisfied and not hungry after meals, and yet I have been ending the day with anywhere from 300-600 extra calories due to exercise...I figure I'll eat a little something but not all 500 calories...that's like another meal and I just don't need that.

You should try and finish all meals 3 hours before you get in the bed, however you do not want to go to bed hungry, try something like fruits, or veggies if you get hungry late at night, and a protein shake is always good to.

that's totally weird. I had the same thing happen to me today too, and I was almost 400 below but it's because I ate really well all day and then went for a walk/jog after work. I am defintely not hungry and even the glass of wine I'm having isn't going to do too much

The problem is what to do when you get to the end of the day and you're way under on a regular basis (not just a day here and there) ?

I don't think you should ever force yourself to eat, but you should try to eat as much as you can within your calorie limit. Tomorrow try to add some extra healthy calories to your meals. I've lost 70 lbs, and let me tell you I definitely eat.

Except for today, I haven't eaten much and what I did get down was crap, but I don't feel well at all so I don't care.

You need to eat in order to keep your metabolism up. If you don't eat, you will go into starvation mode. You body isnt telling you that you are hungry because it is in survival mode. I wasn't eating enough and I stopped losing weight for 6 weeks....I thought that I was doing everything right...but I wasnt eating enough. I increased my calories started dropping weight again.

What she said. If you are under and not hungry, chug a tall glass of chocolate milk. That's good for 200-300 calories easy and always puts me to sleep very nicely. If you are still confused about eating your exercise calories, read the link in my signature and/or search the forums. There is a TON of info on this topic. Good luck!!

So long as it's not every day, I wouldn't worry about it. Unless, of course, you're under by like 10. I'm often under by just a few. Then I'd say you're fine. The info you're logging is likely not exact anyway.

Nobody is going to gain weight in starvation mode. If that were true, anorexics wouldn't be so skinny.

"Starvation" and "starvation mode" are two different things. Yes, it's true that nobody stayed fat in Auschwitz. If you cut your calories to zero or very near, you will eventually lose weight until you're a very unhealthy bag of bones.

Your body recognizes when insufficient food is available and slows the rate of energy use to prepare for famine. As I understand, it can tend to overestimate and over respond to this. Recall that losing weight requires that you burn more calories than you consume. If you drop your calories too much, your body's calorie burning engine will pull off the throttle even more so, and the net difference will be reduced. There's a sweet spot before starvation occurs where the net difference is maximized.

I'm no doctor, but I'm willing to bet that a single day isn't enough to do much of anything if we're only talking about a couple hundred calories. I know that if I pig out, my appetite is reduced even a full 24 hours later, so I'm thinking that your body averages out the calories (and makes starvation-mode "decisions") on a time period much longer than 24 hours.

I feel like it yes at me too! Some days I'm under and some days I am over. As long as I are not under everyday for a long time you will be okay!

You need to eat in order to keep your metabolism up. If you don't eat, you will go into starvation mode. You body isnt telling you that you are hungry because it is in survival mode. I wasn't eating enough and I stopped losing weight for 6 weeks....I thought that I was doing everything right...but I wasnt eating enough. I increased my calories started dropping weight again.

Everybody is different though. Starvation mode doesn't necessarily happen to everyone. Just do what's right for your own body. As long as you're getting proper nutrition from food and not going to bed hungry, don't worry about a day or two of being a few hundred calories under your goal now and then. I had been told to eat my exercise calories (to "boost" my metabolism and prevent starvation mode) so many times, and then when I did, I started gaining weight back. I stayed too full all the time. I was always bloated and uncomfortable. So, I began listening to my body and stopped eating BEFORE I got too full.

Do what's right for your own body. General advice for "everybody" may not be the best advice for YOU!